The Ogun state chapter of the Labour Party has begun contempt proceedings against the Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission (OGSIEC) before the Local Government Election Petition Tribunal sitting at Abeokuta.
This is as a result of the Commission’s failure to obey the orders of the Tribunal directing them to grant unfettered access to the Labour Party to inspect all the electoral materials and documents used in the last local government election.
This was disclosed in a statement issued Thursday by the Party’s Publicity Secretary, Mr. Tokunbo Peters, in Abeokuta.
The Labour Party had filed a petition at the Tribunal on November 29, 2024, challenging the conduct and results of the local government election conducted on November 16, 2024 and called for the nullification of the entire exercise.
According to the statement, “Subsequent upon a motion filed by Barrister Oluwafemi Ibiayo, the counsel to the Labour Party, on December 6, 2024, the Tribunal granted an order on the 11th December, 2024 directing OGSIEC to grant the Labour Party unfettered access to inspect all electoral materials and documents used in the conduct of the election, including but not limited to, documentation of the details of distribution of electoral materials deployed to all polling units, the voter registers, the ballot papers, Forms EC8A and EC8A(1); Forms EC8B and EC8B(1); and Forms EC8C, EC8E and EC8E(1) which were utilised for the conduct of the Local Government Elections held on Saturday, 16th November, 2024.”
It said rather than comply with the order of the Tribunal, OGSIEC filed an application seeking to set aside the said Order of the Tribunal, and claiming that the Labour Party did not participate in the election as a result of which they cannot allow them access to the election materials and documents requested.